Showing posts with label Flames of war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flames of war. Show all posts

8 June 2015

KWC Open Day: Batrep of the Defense of Niedlingen

Open Day FoW in 20mm Game: Defense of Niedlingen, East Prussia (Winter 1944-45)


The  (fictitious) East Prussian Town of Niedlingen is situated a about 600 hundred kilometers east of Berlin, near Arnswalde.

Historical context:

In early February 1945, the 11th SS Panzer Battalion Nordland was ordered onto the offensive as a part of Operation Sonnenwende, the plan to destroy a Soviet salient and to relieve the troops besieged in the town of Arnswalde.
11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nordland“.svg

The offensive had been conceived by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian as a massed assault all along the front but had then been reduced by Hitler to the level of a local counter-attack. Initially, Nordland's attack achieved a total tactical surprise and the division soon advanced to the banks of Lake Ihna in all sectors. However, as the Soviet forces realized what was happening, resistance grew stiffer and the advance began to slow. On 17 February, the division reached Arnswalde and relieved the exhausted garrison. Over the next few days the town was secured and the surviving civilians were evacuated.

Soon however, strong Soviet counter-attacks halted the division's advance, and Steiner called off the attack, pulling the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps back to Stargard and Stettin on the northern Oder River. The 10. SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg", led by Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel, also took part in the operation after being detached from the II SS Panzerkorps in December 1944 (at the time engaged on the Western Front).

Flames of War in 20mm

By 21 February the conclusion was arrived-at that no more useful gains could be made against an increasingly powerful enemy without incurring undue casualties, so Steiner ordered a general withdrawal back to the north bank of the river Ihna.

This is where our battle is set.


Elements of the 11th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg occupy the Town of Niedlingen, East Prussia


General Jaydovich advising Colonel Bruce-chev on the best use of the Soviet Guards Army Tankovy

Russian armour arrive on the banks of the frozen  Ihna River
German pioneers have laid a mine-field on the north bank. A pedestrian bridge (left) and a
single lane metal bridge span the river. The Germans have not had time to dig in, so swift has the Soviet retaliation and pursuit been.


The fuel dump (Soviet Objective 1) is defended by a Pak 40 and MG 42 along with infantry

Turn one:  Colonel Bruce-chev approaches the two bridges, and orders a unit of Cossacks and a unit of Partisans to clear the minefield. As the Don Cossacks had fought on both sides of the war, they are considered expendable, as are the partisans. 
Among their number is a group of nuns, possibly secreting hand-weapons under their habits.


Several groups of partisans succumb to the mine-field. Somehow the nuns survive, and keep moving forward. The Cossacks follow eagerly behind them on horseback.


The second Soviet objective is the town centre of Niedlingen. The only road approach is protected by two stugs and several Pak 40s. The town centre is held by a number of Panther tanks. In the fields beyond  the town is a unit of Nebelwerfers and an artillery battery of 7 LeFH 18 howitzers.

Her Oberst is ably assisted by Herr Leutnant Romlet in his first battle. Fresh out of Panzer schule he is very knowledgable on armour and eager for battle. 


The Soviets attack first, and drive for the bridges


IS-2s clearing a bank on their race for the bridge


Columns of Soviet Armour pouring towards Niedlingen

The German 1st turn sees the lead T34-85 and T34 Obr 1943 destroyed on the bridge. The Soviets are caught in a bottle-neck. They try to cross the frozen river on foot, but the infantry commander falls through the ice on a roll of a 1. (Roll anything but a one, Bruce!)

PTRDs move up to give defensive fire while the heavy IS-2s advance

The Nebelwerfers and LeFH18s take a heavy toll on infantry, mortar units  and 122mm Howitzers, almost all falling prey to the template of mass destruction


Turn 2 degenerates on both sides into an artillery slugfest, with almost all infantry in range being destroyed by artillery fire. Su76s, 85s and IS-2s all unleash a torrent of lead on the German defenders. Pak 40s, mortar units, MG crews, all fall to the murderous fire. 

The  Germans return the favour with all their artillery capable of firing HE and rockets.
The Soviets used foresight, and brought a recovery vehicle with them. The burning T34s are swiftly moved out of the way, and IS2s and ISU 122s start crossing the bridge



Turn Three: CCCP: The Cossacks and Partisans advance through and clear the mine-fields. 
Seems some of the German soldiers are good catholic boys, 
and cannot get themselves to shoot at the nuns. 
They make it to the fuel storage tanks, habits flowing in the mid-winter wind.

The Cossacks cavalry charge the defenders, mowing them down with SMG fire. The last men standing are two artillery observers. They fall to merciless flashing sabres and flailing hooves in the assault phase. The nuns and the cossacks take the objective

Their Turn 3 sees the Germans leave the town centre, in an attempt to outflank the Cossacks attacking the fuel dump.
StugGs, Panthers and Jagdpanthers advance past the church. Reinforcements arrive, but fail to make any impact on the rest of the battle.


German armour rushing towards the Russian advance


Turn 4: The Soviets counter with armour to back up the Cossacks holding the fuel dump.
The T34s make it across the frozen river, but for some reason the assault gun commanders seem to think that their vehicles weigh the same as the medium tanks.

The lead SU 85 plunges to the bottom of the frozen river, with only a small splash and trail of bubbles to mark his passing. The rest stall on the bank.



Desperate to remove the nuns and cossacks from the fuel dump the SS bring up their heavy hitters. 
A King Tiger and Jagd Tiger with an Begleit Panther clank through the narrow streets. The bulk of the factory and station prevent them from drawing a bead on the cavalry troops. They are unable to shoot.


Unfortunately for them, they are now within the range of the tankbusters. 
The Panther is the first to brew up in Turn 5


During their turn 4 the Germans also bring up the balance of their Panthers 
and two tank destroyers of their own


Turn 5: The sole surviving PTRD fires from the farmyard


Hits the flank of the lead StuG who had not thought to wear schurtzen that day. 
This oversight creates a fatal bottle-neck for the German tanks


The assault guns continue to rain destruction, and this time it is the King Tiger that cops it. 
It is hard to stop a barrage of 122 mm shells dropping on your thin top armour


Source of the destruction: ISU 122s and IS-2s en masse, protected by SU 76s and T34-85s


Final moments of the 10. SS Tank Battalion at Niedlingen. 

The tightly packed German armour succumb to a whirlwind of Russian shells. The nuns and Cossacks hold an objective  by the end of the game, and the Germans fail in their attempt to deny the Russians and push them back across the river. 

A resounding victory to Colonel Bruce-chev and his Red Guard Tankovy

Soviet Arms Factory on my Table-top - Getting ready for KWC Open Day

Soviet Arms Factory

We decide to have Late war Soviet Push for Berlin game at the annual open day.

I realised that I had a great deal of unpainted and half-built Armourfast Soviet tanks and tank busters sitting under my work area, so out came the glue and paint:


Pretty soon Su-85s, T34-Obr 1943s and T34-85s were rolling off the production line



A lone halftrack makes a quick getaway, while tigers huddle in their plastic container.


Awaiting tracks, guns fitted


One model had been waiting so long that it somehow lost its gun mantlet. KV1 mantlet and green stuff to the rescue

20 September 2014

FoW: Operation Barbarossa: A sneak Peak and Sale

Flames of War: Operation Barbarossa: Russia Invaded - 

A sneak Peak and Sale

All the Flames of War fans out there: Battlefront miniatures have made a sneak peak available on their Operation Barbarossa book, soon to be released. (Oct 2014) 

Preview Of Barbarossa

The Barbarossa book promises the 3rd Reich rampant:
  • History of the German invasion of the Soviet Russia in 1941,
  • Battle for Moscow and the Soviet counter-strikel.
  • It appears Stalingrad is left out (?) Probably material for a next book.
  • Options for German tank companies: 
    • Leichte Panzerkompanie, Mittlere Panzerkompanie, and Czech Panzerkompanie. 
    • Mobile infantry with a Panzerschützenkompanie, Schützenkompanie, and Kradschützenkompanie.
    • Motorised and foot infantry with a Heer or SS Infanteriekompanie.
  •  Options for Soviet Army: 
    • T-34 tank equipped Tankovy Batalon, 
    • Lend-lease tanks with Inomarochnikiy Tankovy Batalon
    • Motor infantry with a Motostrelkovy Batalon
    • Infantry: Strelkovy Batalon with three different ratings options.
More info on their website (Clicky below)

So, great news for early war fans. Even better news: They have a limited time special on all their early war goodies!

Early-war Sale!

Check things out on their website: Buy two get one free!
(Now wouldn't it be great if Games Workshop took a page out of BF's book -never in a month of Sundays!)

New model releases include:
 New sculpt  Pz III G/H and J, and Pz IV E and F 1/2
• New  range of German infantry with greatcoats Early and Mid War.
•  ZIS-30 - a Zis-2 57mm gun mounted on a Komsomolyets
• Plastic and resin early model T-34.
• Updated sculpts for KV tank series.
• BM-8 Katyusha option included with the BM-13 Katyusha box

Q and A from their site:

Q: When will we be charged for the orders?
A: Just like the Vietnam sale, orders will be charged once they are downloaded from the website. 

Q: Will the new Barbarossa book and releases be included in the sale?
A: Barbarossa is released after the conclusion of the sale. However this is a great opportunity to get your supporting units and figures in preparation for the release of this book.

Q: How is the discount calculated?
A: We will sort your purchases in descending price order and change every third sale item to $0. So if you ordered 2 BR702 BEF Rifle Platoons ($18 USD each), 1 BR310 Daimler Dingo ($14.50 USD) and 3 BR052 Matilda IIs ($13 USD each), you would get the blister of Daimler Dingos and 1 of the Matilda II blisters for free.

Q: Do books count towards the Buy 2, Get 1 Free deal?
A: Yes. If you add any of the four books to your order they will count towards the buying 2 and getting 1 free (at the discounted prices obviously). So if you buy 1 book and 2 other products you will get 1 of them for free.

Q: Will there be stock?
A: Yes, although if demand is higher than our stock levels we will get it made as soon as possible and have orders completely fulfilled in the same order that they came through the webstore. Orders will be fulfilled in the order that they are received so get in early to avoid disappointment.

Q: Will the webstore show the correct discounted prices and freight
A: Yes! Our gnomes have been busy over the past week reprogramming the store so it should correctly determine which products will be free and apply the correct maximum freight charge.

Q: How long does the sale last?
A: The sale starts on 19 September 2014 and ends 6 October. The front page of the website will be updated once the store has the sale pricing.

9 October 2013

Swap or Sell Miniatures: KWC Swap Day 20.12.2013

We want you! 


For the 


Kapiti Wargames Club 


Swap Day


20.10.2013





Unwanted or unloved Miniatures?

The Annual Kapiti Wargames Club Swap Meet is on again!


Sunday 20 October 2013


10.00 to 16.00


Paraparaumu Community Centre


Nga Hina Street, Paraparaumu




Entry Gold Coin Donation at door



Bring all your unwanted bits and models: Warhammer, 40K, 


Warmachine, FoW, Military, Napoleonics, Ancients, Moderns, 


28mm, 20mm, 15mm


 ...any scale, any condition. 




Missing bits, complete or partial kits...all comers welcome! 


Your trash is likely someone's treasure!


Sell or swap!



(Most likely there will be some gaming too)

2 July 2013

Falschirmjaeger defeat at Triomphe-de-Luc

Kapiti Wargames Club Open Day: 

Falschirmjaeger defeated by Allies at Triomphe-de-Luc.


The KWC had its 2nd open day on 30 June 2013. It was a great success, with many visitors and a range of games being played, from StarWars X-Wing through to the 7 Years'War.

I fielded my 20mm Falschirmjaeger with Divisional support against Luc's Brit Motorised Infantry, again with plenty of support. We played a FoW game, Fortress Europe, with approx 2800 points a side.


Brigadier Luc ably assisted by Major Cameron deploying the British forces
(Photo credits first 3 images  Jack Penman Photography)
Balance of photographs my own photography


Deploying the Falschirmjaeger


Vue de La ville D'Armand

 Being mostly a display game we though to load the table (which was probably too small for the scale of the game and number of points) with models.


Falschirmjaeger with divisional support: Tigers and Flak Vierling 20mm AA guns

My Falschirmjaeger were garrisoned in the town of Armandville (Hermanville in German), a town in France, defending across a river, with three access points, a road bridge, a rail bridge at the west and ford to the east. The Falschirmjaeger were well dug in, with 4 heavy machine-guns in Tobruk pits, light mortars, a battery of 4 Nebelwerfer and a battery of 2 LeFH 18 Howitzers supplied by Divisional Command. 4 Tiger Panzers and 4 PAK 40s were holding the village square and access to the Scientific research station and fuel dump in the Industrial area at the North end of the town.Reinforcements by rail in the shape of 3 PzKfw IVs has been promised, and the Luftwaffe supplied sporadic air support. A troop of Falschirmjaeger were also arriving as reserves from the neighbouring village.


View to the South: Nebelwerfer and leFH 18s

The ford at the south was relatively weakly defended, by 4 LMGs and supported by 2 Stug Gs

Reserves were deployed in a random fashion, arriving from a table edge designated by the roll of the dice, and on a roll of 6 in the first turn, 5 in the next, 4, etc, etc.

The Brits deployed in pincer fashion, with 3 Churchills leading the charge, followed by 6 M3 Halftracks, each with 2 50 cal machineguns. The Brits deployed  six x 6-pounders towed by universal carriers, backed up by 3 Sherman 75s on the other flank. The centre was held by 4 shermans led by a firefly gun-tank.The Royal engineers raced towards the railway line, set on destroying this avenue of resupply for the German garrison. Australian Field artillery in the shape of 4x 25-pounder guns provided bombardment clout. Of course, RAF  typhoons provided priority air cover.


Guarding the bridge approaches: Tiger, Pak 40s and MGs in Tobruk pits

The German garrison rolled to have the first turn, essentially stayed put, maneuvred to get better line of sight of the approaching forces. Only the nebelwerfers and 105mm Howitzers were in range. The Stukas arrived, and delivered death to 2 squads of the Royal Engineers attempting to blow up the railway line.

The Nebelwerfer took out two bren carriers with their 6pdrs still in tow. The LeF18s took care of 2 of the 25pdrs. The Falschirmjaeger watched, and waited...


Nebelwerfers locked and loaded...

The Royal Engineers immediately laid charges on the railway line, detonating 4 successfully. Needing another 2 demolitions they seemed well set to deprive the German garrison of more Panzers.

The 25 pounders found their mark on the StuGs and supporting infantry, killing several MP34 teams outright, but failing to damage the StuG or the Horch Field Car of their unit commander. The Churchills, Shermans and M3s closed in, attempted to take out the artillery observation teams, but failed at this.The typhoons arrived, but were seen off by the quad vierling AckAck batteries. The UK units who had not fired yet then laid down a massive smoke screen across the road bridge, obscuring the view of all but one of the Tigers, all of the Pak 40s and all of the Tobruk pits. A very tactically sound move by Brigadier Luc!


Turn 2 saw the StuGs advance through the ford, one Tiger probe the smoke screen, and take possession of the road bridge. The advancing allied infantry were now within range of the stummelwerfer mortars, who rained oblivion on the advancing Tommies.


The Tiger supporting the Company commander fired at extreme range,but the 88mm kanone failed to damage the advancing Churchills. The reinforcements from Ville d'Jeanette arrived on the East side of the board, and reinforced the advancing StuGs. The Nebelwerfers ranged in, but failed to do any damage, and the LeF18s destroyed one more of the 25-pounders. The StuGs destroyed another 2 of the 6-pounders, now unlimbered, leaving one only, who found that discretion was the better part of valour.

Turns 1 and 2: Result of the Nebelwerfer salvo and Stug Fire

The smoke screen laid down by the Tommies prevented any further significant action, and the Stukas were driven off by the infernal RAF!

Luc's Turn 2 saw the Royal Engineers destroying the railway approach to Hermanville.


PzKfw IVs on rail cars, never made it to Armandville due to Royal Engineer action



 The M3's charged forward, decimating the Falschirmjaeger dug in on the river bank. The MGs on the Churchills and Sherman adding to the annihilation of my elite troops.



He rolled for his reinforcements, and they arrived in the rear of the German Forces! 5 M10 Tank destroyers rumbled into the town. 2 took the fuel depot and 3 ground their way into the square.

The Tigers stood no chance!



 Volley upon volley of AP rounds crashed into the unprotected rear of the Tigers, destroying 3 outright! The Shermans and Churchils poured their fire onto the remaining Tiger, positioned on the bridge and scored several hits. The Tiger failed his armour save!


Caught in a vice, with their armour gone, and the fuel dump (Objective)  in British hands, the decimated Falschirmjaeger had no choice but to surrender.


The towns-people rejoiced, and renamed the town of Armandville to Triomphe-de-Luc in recognition of the deeds of their Liberators.


But not enough...